The most beautiful residences in Poitiers are brought together in a superb book published by La Geste. “You won’t believe me, we have examples of beautiful constructions in Poitiers over the centuries”, testifies Elisabeth Morin Chartier who supervised the work co-written by two photographers and Art historians, Maud Piderit and Daniel Clauzier, “We have examples of all styles.” The authors made “extraordinary discoveries”through a private heritage that has spanned the ages.
Maud Pider
“This book is an invitation to rediscover Poitiers by looking at the city with a completely new perspective”
For the historian, “This book is an invitation to rediscover Poitiers by looking at the city with a completely new perspective,” which allows us to see the city beyond its urban planning. The book is also a dive into the intimacy of the buildings, since the authors did not simply compile archive work and a study of the facade, but entered the owners’ homes.
“Of the 130 houses that we have as examples in this book, with three exceptions, but which we understand, these are people who very kindly opened their doors to us”testifies Elisabeth Morin-Chartier, “the owners understood the interest of this book and were eager to know their heritage better”.
The fruit of two years of work
The two authors have done painstaking work. “The publisher’s order was to have examples from all periods and in all districts of the city. And then, we had to make contacts, search for the owners”, says the historian.
Maud Pider
Among the buildings that marked Elisabeth Morin-Chartier, “an Art Deco building built by Martineau, rue des Écossais, next to the Temple and which really has an absolutely atypical architecture in Poitiers, typical of art deco. And then I also think of the house of Paul Bonnin, architect, whose son Nicolas Bonnin is still an architect”.
The book “Beautiful residences of Poitiers”, by Daniel Clauzier and Maud Piderit, under the direction of Élisabeth Morin-Chartier, published by the publishing house La Geste, is priced at 50 euros.
